Justin’s clients have diverse commercial interests, but he is principally involved in real estate matters, including the acquisition and management of complex real estate sites and portfolios by retailers, private equity actors and families/family offices, and corporate affairs, including entity and joint venture formation and governance and share and asset acquisitions, dispositions and reorganizations.
Ancillary to these core matters, Justin’s clients' various interests include: real estate financings; retail, industrial and office lease projects; environmental risk management; the sale and transportation of fuel; the implementation of alternative retail models; supply and distribution matters; foreign investment (Investment Canada Act) compliance matters; contractual relationship formation and interpretation in all kinds of commercial contexts; the management of labour and employment matters; and the management and distillation of contentious/litigious matters.
Having worked with numerous clients around the world (Canada, United States, Japan and Europe), Justin is a trusted advisor who tailors to his clients needs from being able to triage legal issues, distill issues to their business essence, problem solve by offering workable solutions and to provide general risk mitigation counsel. Justin works hard to become a valued part of an organization’s decision making structure.
Justin joined Davis & Company (the predecessor of DLA Piper (Canada) LLP) in 2000 upon his completion of law school. From 2008-2009, he practised as a Senior Associate in London, UK, in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Funds Structuring Practice Groups for a major international law firm. While there, Justin received qualifications to practise law in England and Wales. His impact and achievements led him to be named a Lexpert® Rising Star: Leading Lawyer Under 40 in 2012.
Justin is Chair of the Board of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. He also sits on the Board of Directors of a number of his clients. He is the former Chair of the Toronto Grant Review Team of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, a role in which involved distributing large amounts of funding to not-for-profit organizations in Ontario. He has also held numerous Chair positions on the Boards of various music organizations; and once upon a time took visually impaired persons on tandem bike-rides. Justin is a member of DLA Piper (Canada) LLP’s Equity and Diversity Committee.
In his spare time, Justin travels extensively for both business and personal purposes.